Furnace-grate



A GM WE .R EU .UL H uw .d o M o W No. 577,196. Patented Feb. 16,1897.

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HENRY E. LONGVELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE I/VESTING-HOUSE, CHURCH, KERR d: COMPANY, OF ORANGE, NEW` JERSEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,190, dated February16, 1897.

Application filed September 26, 1894. Serial No. 524,139. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, HENRY E. LONGWELL, of Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Furnace-Crates; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,

1o which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to furnace-grates of mechanical stokingapparatus.

There are two general types or classes of mechanical stokers in use atthis time in this country-iirst, a traveling chain grate which carriesthe fuel from front to rear of the furnace, but has no means ofagitating the burning mass of fuel for the purpose of breaking upclinker and rattling out iine ashes, and, second, the inclined grate inwhich the feeding forward of the fuel thereon is dependent upon itsbeing agitated by a rocking or shaking motion of the grate-bars.

The inability of the traveling chain grate to agitate the bed of burningcoals in my judgment lessens seriously the general utility of this styleof Stoker, aside from the fact that it is of necessity a cumbrous andcomplicated device. At the same time I believe that the feeding of thefuel along the grate should not be dependent upon an agitation of thefire. Both feeding and agitation are important functions of a mechanicalStoker, but they should in my opinion be independent of each other, orat least the grate should be so constructed that the feeding action maybe effected without agitation of the fire-bed when desired. Again, theagitating action of the grate should be confined to a limited portion ofsaid grate, namely, that part of the grate upon which the fuel is fullyignited. The agitation of fresh or unignited fuel entering the furnaceis not only useless, but is detrimental, inasmuch as it causes siftingand, in the case of hard coal especially, retards ignition andfacilitates the admission of air at a point where it does no good. Theextent of agitation necessary or desirable is of course dependent on thequality of the fuel, a cleanburning coal with little refuse obviouslyrequiring less agitation than a dirty coal which clinkers badly.

In accordance with these views my invention has for one of its principalobject-s to provide a grate adapted to feed forward the fuel thereonwithout agitation of the fuel, and to this end the grate is inclined andhas a bodily reciprocatory movement substantially in its own plane.

Another principal object of the invention is to provide a grate adaptedfor the agitation of the incandescent portion only of the fuel thereon.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction wherebythe shaking or agitating operation of the grate may be effectedautomatically when desired an'd may also at will be locked againstagitatin g movement or on occasion may be disengaged from both themechanical actuating means and the locking means, so that it may beoperated by hand.

Other and minor objects of the invention will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings I have illusF trated one form ofconstruction of my invention which is adapted in design to the presentpattern of furnace-front now used in connection with what is well knownas the Roney Mechanical Stoker, the drawings showing the Roneyfeed-hopper and coking-arch as illustrated and described in LettersPatent of the United States No. 409,304, granted to him on the 20th dayof August, 1889.

In the drawings the entire grate willv be seen to be a movable structurewithin its inclosure, the fixed bars, the shaking-bars, and thedump-grate, which make up the inclined structure, being all mounted inone frame, which rests on suitable supports and has abodily-reciprocatory motion in the inclined direction of its own length.In these bodily movements of the grate the fuel is carried forwardly ordownwardly with the grate in its downward movement, but is carriedupwardly on the upward or return movement of the grate. Thisreciprocatory movement of the grate is not necessarily accompanied byany separate movement of the grate-bars and therefore the feeding of thecoal is or may be independent of the agitation of the iire-bed.

In the preferred construction of the invention shown in the drawings theupper partof the grate consists of a series of overlapping shelvesbolted to suitable'side pieces of thc grate-frame and having noindependent or rocking movement of their own, their only' movement beingthat in which they accompany the main frame of the grate upward anddownward in the reciprocation of the entire grate. Next below thesefixed or non-rocking grate-bars are provided shaking gratebars, mountedin the same reciprocatory frame, said shaking bars being shown as of theinterprojecting-iinger type. In the bottom or lower end of thegrate-frame a dumpgrate is also mounted, and this dump-grate thereforealso shares the reciprocal movement of the main frame, besides havingits independent dumping movement, which is controlled by hand atthe'will of the attendant.

Means are shown for automatically giving to the entire inclined grateits reciprocal lengthwise 1n ovement in its own plane. Means are alsoshown by which an automatic rocking movement may be given to the shakingbars of the grate when desired, and a construction is shown by whichthese rocking grate-bars may be disconnected from the actuatingmechanism and either locked to move only with the main frame or leftfree to be moved by hand.

In the accompanyi ng drawings, Figure l is a vertical longitudinalsection of my improved grate and its actuating mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section in theline 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3is atransverse section of the grate in the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4:is a transverse section in the indirect line 4C 4 of Fig. l. Fig. 5 is atransverse section in the line 5 5 of Fig. l. Fig. G illustrates amodification of the device for independently operating the rockinggrate-bars by hand.

A A represent the xed side bearers of the furnace, and B B the sideframe-bars of the movable grate.

C is the upper part of the grate, which may be composed of theoverlapping grate-bars C C C shown, or it may consist of a bed-plateeither perforated or imperforate, as desired, said fixed part of thegrate being bolted or otherwise secu red to the side frame-bars B.

D D D are rocking grate-bars, which are here shown as being of thelingered variety, but may be of other form, if preferred.

E is a dump-grate hinged to the cross footbar B' of the maingrate-frame, said bar B being in the present instance bolted to the sidefram e-bars B.

G is one of two opposite rollers carried on the fixed side bearers A Aand placed beneath the side bars B of the grate-frame near their lowerends.

H is a transverse shaft supported in suitable bearings on thefurnace-front, each end of said shaft carrying a toothed sector Lwhichengages in a toothed rack b, formed on the under edge of each of theside frame-bars B, thus supporting the upper end of the grate and makingit possible by oscillation of the mounted an eccentric K', having,desirably,

about a two-inch throw. This eccentric transmits motion to a rocker-armL, and thence, through the shaft H and sector l, to the grate. I havefound a motion of one inch on the grate and one and one-half to tworevolutions of the dri ving-shaft per minute to give good results.

M is a link attached to the eccentric-strap K2, which imparts reciprocalmotion through the sector N to the pusher O in the hopper O,substantially in accordance with the Roney construction of feedingmechanism hereinbefore referred to.

B2 is a cross-bar connecting the two side frame-bars B near their upperends, being connected at its opposite extremities with dependingbrackets B3, that are integrally or otherwise joined with the sideframe-pieces B.

Q is a bar connecting with the depending lugs D on the rockinggrate-bars D.

R is a link attached to the bar Q and provided with a notch r in itslower edge, which is adapted to engage with a rib b' on the uppersurface of the cross-bar Vhen this notch r in the bar R is engaged withthe rib b', said shaking or rocking bars D are held against rockingmovement, said notch r being desirably placed in such position as tolock said rocking bars D in a common plane, as shown in Fig. l.

The link R extends through the furnacefront U and has a second notch ron its upper edge, as shown in Fig. G, which is adapted to engage withthe upper edge of the hole u in the grate-front, through which itpasses. If the outer end of the link R be lifted, so as to disengage itslower notch r from the rib b and to engage its upper notch o" with theedge u of the furnace-front, and the said link R be there sustained, itis obvious that the connecting-bar Q will be held stationary while theentire grate is making its longitudinal movements and that the rockingbars D will therefore be given a continuous though slow rockingmovement. As shown, the depending lugs D on the bars D differ in length,those on the upper bars being the longer and said lugs graduallydiminishing in length toward the lower bars. In this construction, whichis preferred, the rocking motion of the lower rocking bars D is thegreater.

The link R, while adapted to engage either with the grate-front or otherrelatively stationary part and with the bar B2, which is an accessory ofthe grate, may also be placed in a mid-position, in which it is inneither of these en ga-gem ents and is free to be reciprocated by hand,so that a more vigorous shaking may be given to the grate-bars Dand amore vigorous agitation of the fire-bed thereon effected when desired.

As a suitable means for shaking the rocking grate-bars by hand thedevice illustratedV IOO IIO

in Fig. 'G is su ggcsted, wherein 'l is a bellcrank lever, the long armt of which is to be seized and vibrated by hand, and the short arm t isadapted to engage at its upper end with the notch r2 in the under edgeof the link R. IVhen said short arm t of the bellcrank T is in theposition shown by full lines in Fig. G, it upholds the link R inengagement with the furnace-front, but when engaged with the notch r2the link R is disengaged at both of its notches r and r and vibration ofthe bell-crank by hand causes the reciprocation of the link Rand therocking of the gratebars D to any extent desired.

S in Fig. lis a rod for operating the dumpgrate. It is provided with anotch s for engaging with the rib b to hold the dump-grate in itsordinary position in the plane of the grate, but when said rod S islifted, so as to disengage it from the rib b', the dump-grate is allowedto drop on its hinges and to discharge the clinkers and ashes thereoninto the ash-pit beneath. The rod S preferably terminates inside thefurnacefront and has the hole s in the upper and outer extremitythereof, by which a hook or handle may be engaged therewith.

The inclined position of the dump-grate shown has the advantage ofinsuring a good air-seal at the lower end of the grate structure, sinceI have found it desirable to take i every precaution against theentrance of air culty commonly encountered of sifting thefreshly-introduced coal is practically eliminated.

I do not wish to be limited to the exact forms of the parts herein shownand above described, inasmuch as many variations may obviously be madein these without departure from my invention.

One modification which I have found to be desirable in some casesconsists in providing separate links and connections for separate groupsof the shaking grate-bars. As shown in the drawings, it will be notedthat only one bar Q and link R are shown, said single bar Q beingconnected with all the shaking gratebars D which are given motion. Ihave found that by employing two sets of these connections Q and R, oneset arranged at one side of the grate and the other at the other side,and by connecting each of said bars Q with a limited number only of theshaking grate-bars, D as, for example, one bar Q with an upper group ofsaid grate-bars and the other bar Q with a lower group of the gratebars,either an upper or a lower group of said grate-bars D may beindependently actuated by hand, independently locked, or independ-Vnection is not herein claimed as my invention. I do, however, desire toclaim the construction herein described, in which an inclinedfurnace-grate which has fixed gratebars and in which the grate is bodilymoved primarily for the purpose of accomplishing the downward feed ofthe fuel over the stationary bars, which are arranged in stepped order,is provided with a plurality of shaking bars having connection with arelatively stationary part. This construction has the importantadvantage of enabling shaking bars to be used in such abodily-reciproeatory inclined grate without the employment of actuatingmeans other than the device used to give bodily motion to the maingrate, thereby securing in such an inclined grate the feature ofstationary bars reciprocating with the grate itself for the upper partof the grate and rocking bars for the lower part of the grate withoutrequiring the employment of separate actuating means for the two kindsof grate-bars.

I claim as my invention- 1. A longitudinallyreciprocatory inclinedvfurnace-grate provided with shaking bars in position to support theincandescent fuel, said shaking bars being movable bodily with thegrate, but independently movable thereon, said grate being provided alsoat its head or receiving end with bars or an equivalent fuel-supporthaving no movement independ ently of the grate as a whole.

2. A longitudinally-reciprocatory inclined furnace-grate provided withpivoted shaking IOO IIC

bars in position to support the incandescent fuel, said shaking barsbeing movable bodily with the grate, but independently movable thereon,said grate being provided also at its head or receiving end with bars,or an equivaient fuel-support having no movement independently of thegrate as a whole, in com bination with a connection or connectionsbetween points on said shaking bars remote from their pivots, and arelatively stationary part whereby the movement of the grate as a wholeresults in a shaking movement of said shaking bars.

3. An inclined longitudinally movable grate comprising a fixed sectionof bars or their equivalent at its upper end, a section ofindependently-shaking bars located below the fixed section and whichmove bodily with the grate, and t dumping-gratte at the foot or lowerend of the main grate, which also moves bodily With the main grate, theentire grate, so composed, having it bodily-reciprocatory movement.

4. A longitudinelly-reciprocatory inclined grate provided with a sectionof shaking bars, and a connection leading from said shaking bers adaptedto be engaged with either it stabe operated by hand or otherwiseindependently.

G. In combination With an inclined, longitudinally-reciprocatory grateprovided with it series of shaking bars, as D, L link R having notchesfr, r', for respectively engaging movable and stationary parts and alsoprovided With the notch r2, and zt hand-lever, is T, having an arm tadapted to engage the notch r2, and When so engaged, to hold the linkclear of engagement at both its notches 7" and r', whereby the shaking'bars may be operated independently.

In testimony tha-t I claim the foregoing` as my invention I affixmysignzttnre in presence of two Witnesses.

HENRY E. LONGVVELL.

TWitnesses:

ALBERT H. GRAVES, HENRY W. CARTER.

